Here’s the poster I made yesterday to advertise our newly-instigated participatory music sessions on a Tuesday evening:

This week’s folk session was very quiet – only one musician other than ourselves turned up, although we did have an enthusiastic (if small) audience. We’re advertising next week’s blues jam a little further in advance in the hope of enticing a larger crowd. If you’re local, play an instrument or sing and fancy joining us one Tuesday, or if you’re just interested in coming along to listen to some free entertainment, please keep an eye on our Facebook page for up-to-date events listings.

First there was Refurb. We sugar soaped, we masked, we painted, we got covered in black gloss. It was epic, and when it came, the Thing That Will Be Fine was, indeed, Fine.

The pub is now open, and lo, the decorating wonders achieved by the Grand Refurb Crew were admired by all and sundry … But it’s becoming clear that we really need to open as many of the guest rooms as possible, while it’s still summer and there are still lots of tourists wanting somewhere to stay on the south coast.

We’ve already redecorated the Elizabeth Room, but we’re planning to open at least two more rooms (the fourth is being occupied by new fulltime staff member Joe for at least the next month). We also need to make the corridor and other public upstairs areas nice and bright and non-dingy, and we need to do all these things as soon as possible.

We got stuck in on Saturday with the aid of a couple of visiting friends (THANKYOU: we have been so very very lucky with the generosity of friends willing to give time and energy to helping us, and we are grateful to each and every one of you. We couldn’t have got this far without you) and blitzed our way through the weekend and into Monday and Tuesday, with the additional help of my brother and sister-and-law who turned up to see the pub and help out. On Tuesday we called a halt so we could all attend to our other commitments, but the dropcloths are all still in place and Cap’n Spanner and I are intending to get stuck back in next week with the help of Joe, aiming to open the Maud and Boudicca Rooms by the August bank holiday weekend. (There: I’ve said it on the internet now, we have to meet the deadline somehow.)

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I spent a couple of hours yesterday refreshing the blackboards at the front. One (on the far left) hadn’t been updated since before we opened, and still listed the breweries from our May bank holiday beer festival. While they are all local Sussex breweries from whom we’ve stocked beers since, it was drastically in need of re-doing. The other has been used for gig listings since the start of June; I’d been meaning to update it for a few weeks, but in the event was so busy I let it slide until after the last band named had played last Saturday.

We decided to keep the blackboard by the door for music, with the addition of an advert for our new midweek music events on a Tuesday evening. Having just had our first open mic night this week (an astonishing success), we’ve decided to hold one on the first Tuesday of every month. The theme will then continue each month with a folk tunes session on the second Tuesday, and a blues jam on the third. We’ve had one each of these already over the last few weeks, and they seemed to work well. Then the fourth Tuesday of the month will be kept open for spoken word events – storytelling, poetry, stand-up, political debates and anything else we can muster performers for and interest in.

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Well about 2 weeks ago (as some of our more keen eyed regulars will be able to tell you) we had a new gravity stillage installed next to the till in the snug bar. Aswell as being a nice increase in our range of real ale, its also what we’ll use to serve beers brewed by local brewers so we can be apart of the CAMRA LocAle initiative.

LocAle was started in 2007 as a way to help promote pubs stocking locally brewed real ale. The scheme builds on a growing consumer demand for quality local produce and an increased awareness of ‘green’ issues, and aswell as the environmental bonuses The scheme also helps provide for tourist looking to try the local brews and most importantly helps keep the Sussex breweries open and brewing-because if theres 1 thing I’ve found since starting work in the pub, its Sussex brews some bloody good beer!!

To qualify for the scheme the beers that we use have to come from breweries within 30 road miles of the pub, so it allows us to use beers from: The Old Dairy, 1648, the FILO and The Rother Valley Brewing Company (sorry, Darkstar’s too far away) to name a few. So next time you in the pub and your wondering what to wet your whistle with…why not give LocAle a go??

Last Saturday we were joined by the Nelson King Trio, AKA Snakestone, for a fantastic evening of rock and roots blues. Nelson and Chris had discussed the idea of Cap’n Spanner and I joining the band as guest saxophonists, and we were up for it. Most of the weekend was taken up with redecorating the new guest rooms upstairs, so we barely had time to feel nervous about it (or, indeed, rehearse). We weren’t expected to know the songs, though; just to play along with blues in E, and we were pretty sure we could manage that.

We rushed to bathe and put non-painty clothes on after we finished decorating for the day, and made our way downstairs to meet the band. We had a few friends staying to help out with the decorating, and who were kind enough to sit and watch the gig. Otherwise, the crowd was a smaller one than most Saturdays due to a hiccup with the advertising that week – which was something of a relief to me, as my first “on stage” appearance as a musician (not counting school/university bands and choirs) was nervewracking enough without a huge crowd!

In the event, it went fine. Nelson is an absolute sweetheart and went out of his way to make us feel welcome and at ease. The songs were catchy and it was relatively easy to find arrangements that fitted. After the first song, during which we both lurked at the back trying not to overpower the band, everyone exhorted us to come forward and play louder, so for the rest of the gig we arranged ourselves like bookends either side of the band. IT looked good, although it did make it rather difficult for us to hear each other, which meant the horn section wasn’t really in time with itself! Towards the end of the set Nelson gave me a couple of 12 bar passages to play with, and although I didn’t think my improvisation was particularly catchy or well-structured, it was at least in key and relatively fluent, so for a first gig I wasn’t displeased at all.

People were kind enough to say nice things about our playing, and afterwards Nelson paid us the compliment of suggesting we join him in the studio to add some sax to some of the tracks on his next album. There were some interesting chats about blues jams and guitar masterclasses, as well, so hopefully this will be the start of a long and successful collaboration!

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A couple of weeks after we opened, we started putting the pump labels from the real ales we’d had on up above the bar. Chris’ previous pub, the Pembury Tavern in Hackney, had been doing the same thing for years, and the rafters were filled with hundreds of pump labels, all different. It’s a fantastic archive of the beers that have gone through the pumps over time, especially when the beers are changing quite quickly.

We started with the handful of beers we’d had on during the beer festival:

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I spent Sunday at daytime festival Folk by the Oak in the beautiful Hatfield Park, and came home with a present for the pub:

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We finished the Elizabeth Room! It took many hours. We’re all very tired now and don’t have many words. So have some pictures instead.

Work in progress pics:

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My cat Niamh has taken to the move with aplomb. A rambling Elizabethan pub is much more her style than a cramped North London bedsit, and she has already staked her claim on the Queen’s Head, cozying up to the customers and investigating rooftops and bars with her investigating feet. On a sunny day she can often be seen striding along the highest point of the roof, her belly fluff swaying majestically in the breeze. (More than one patron of the pub has tried to persuade me that she’s pregnant. She isn’t, she’s just always that shape.)

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This week Cap’n Spanner and I are refurbishing the first of the guest rooms, aiming to open the Elizabeth Room this weekend. We’ve taken bookings for Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights so the deadline is a firm one. It’s going to be a full week trying to get everything done and the room aired in [...]